On First Looking Into Chapmans Homer / Keats, John

                                      1816
                     ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN'S HOMER
                                 by John Keats

        Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold,
          And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
          Round many western islands have I been
        Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
        Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
          That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne;
          Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
        Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
        Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
          When a new planet swims into his ken;
        Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
          He star'd at the Pacific- and all his men
        Look'd at each other with a wild surmise-
          Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

                        THE END
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